Ole: Greenwood will become a United regular

The forward enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2019 after making his first-team debut in March and has netted eight times for the Reds in the intervening months, most recently in the 4-1 Boxing Day victory over Newcastle United.

The 18-year-old has not always been a regular starter in the side, with Ole preferring to ease him into the first-team picture.

However, with the youngster continuing to impress, the boss admitted Greenwood isn’t far off being a permanent fixture.

“He's grown a lot,” Ole said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s third-round Emirates FA Cup clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

“He's physically and mentally more robust, which, of course, you expect from an 18-year-old. He has had more or less 12 months with us now and he's grown fantastically.

“His confidence and performances in the top games, even in the Premier League, he's done well. As you said, he's played a lot of the cup games and he's done well.

“So, we'll just keep continuing to give him more and more until he is a regular, because that will happen.”

Having already scored in three competitions this season, Mason will be keen to make it a fourth when we travel to Molineux this weekend.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have proved themselves to be a formidable side in the past two years and the Black Country outfit are currently seventh in the Premier League table, just a point behind the Reds.

Ole knows all too well the difficulties Wolves can pose after they eliminated us from the FA Cup last season.

“It’s the fourth time in my time there, already at Molineux and we haven't won yet, but it is a tough place,” the boss told reporters.

“Liverpool lost there last season, City just lost there now, so we've got to earn the right to win there. We've got to play well, we've got to perform and we've got to go there positive, because we want a reaction after a defeat against Arsenal, which everyone says was such a bad, bad performance.

“To me it was a good game by two good teams, two good footballing teams.

“They have quality: good players, a good manager, who has had time and he's got his way of playing, his philosophy,” Ole added. 

“The players are getting to know each other. You can see that they have swapped between 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and they seem to know every little detail there is in those two systems.

“They know each other, relationships, like swapping positions, rotations, which is a great place to be in when you get that consistency that he has had. So, we know we're up for a hard night at Molineux.”

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